Difficulties can be encountered in removing dust, debris and dirt from floors which are intensively used such as domestic floors and commercial floors. For example, elderly people and the disabled can encounter difficulties in bending and sweeping when cleaning domestic floors manually while considerable quantities of debris can accumulate in industrial and retail environments such as the food preparation, hairdressing and wood/metalwork industries.
In general, vacuum cleaners have been employed both domestically and commercially to remove dirt from floors. However, known vacuum cleaners suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, known portable vacuum cleaners can be cumbersome to use—especially in confined domestic spaces and can still present difficulties to mobility impaired users when lifting and manoeuvring the vacuum cleaners. Central vacuum systems are also used for cleaning purposes. However, such vacuum systems are expensive to install and can still present difficulties in use—particularly to the mobility impaired. Moreover, central vacuum systems are difficult and prohibitively expensive to retrofit whilst causing severe disruption during the retrofitting process.